


When you said the bartender was hot...

by e_cat



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bar, I actually haven't read BoO, M/M, Valentine's Day, but I've read more than enough fanfiction to make up for it, except that's not really important to the story, this might be terrible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 20:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3353675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/e_cat/pseuds/e_cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil has dragged Will to a bar on Valentine's Day with the promise of a hot bartender. What will happen next?</p>
            </blockquote>





	When you said the bartender was hot...

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own these characters. Rick Riordan does. Also, I am probably not qualified to write this, as I have not actually read the last book yet... Go ahead and shame me. I make no apologies.

“When you said that the bartender was hot, I assumed you knew I was gay.” Cecil rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to counter, but Will cut him off. “I mean, I know I’ve had to remind you a couple of time when you were talking about how hot you thought some girl was, but I thought you would at least remember when you were trying to set me up with someone!” Will pouted, annoyed at how horribly the night was going already.

Cecil laughed. “Okay, just how bad a friend do you think I am?” Will opened his mouth to tell him, but Cecil held up a hand. “You know what, I don’t want to know. But, seriously, even if you were straight, I wouldn’t set you up with Hazel.” He nodded in the direction of the bar to let Will know that he was talking about the bartender. Cecil came here way too often if he was on a first name basis with the bartender.

Will glanced at the bartender again. She was pretty, with soft brown skin, along with hair and eyes that seemed to glow when she laughed. She laughed a lot. Will turned back to Cecil. “Why not?”

Cecil laughed and rolled his eyes. “You see that guy at the end of the bar?” The guy Cecil was referring to was large, but looked friendly. Also, he was watching the bartender with a goofy, loving expression. “That’s her boyfriend. The guy is huge, but he’s nice enough. But I hear if you go after his girl, he can turn into a real bear.”

Will frowned. “So, why am I here?”

“First of all,” Cecil said, “you’re here to have fun with your friends. Because we don’t see you drunk nearly often enough.” Will rolled his eyes. His friends seemed to think he was hilarious when he drank. Probably because they were already drunk by the time he finished his first drink. “And, second of all, I wasn’t talking about Hazel. I meant her brother. He comes in for his shift at 10.”

Will glanced at his watch. It was nearly 10 now. “Her brother?” he asked suspiciously.

Cecil rolled his eyes again. “Well, speaking as an objective, straight man, I already told you he was hot.”

“Right,” Will said, shaking his head at Cecil’s phrasing. “Why did I trust you on that, again?”

Cecil laughed, his mission accomplished. “Well, actually, that was Lou Ellen’s opinion. I will admit that he isn’t ugly, though.”

Will rolled his eyes. He was starting to pick up the bad habit from Cecil. He wondered if it could cause permanent damage. If it did, it would certainly affect Cecil first. “Do I get any more details?”

“You didn’t request any when you agreed to come tonight,” Cecil pointed out.

“Well, back then, I actually trusted you.”

Cecil rolled his eyes. “What have I done since 4 o’clock to make you stop trusting me?”

Will began counting off a list on his fingers. “Well, you told the professor that it was all my fault we were talking. You unscrewed the salt-shaker at dinner. You gave me back a now-broken DVD that I didn’t know you’d borrowed. You told me there was a spider on my head and made me mess up my hair. Really, I could go on.”

Cecil rolled his eyes. “Your hair looked too fancy anyways. This is a bar, Will, not a courthouse.”

Will glared at the table. “I liked my hair like that,” he complained.

“Cecil! Are you insulting Will’s hair again?” Lou Ellen demanded in a joking voice. Will looked up to smile at their newly-arrived friend. It turned into a scowl when she rubbed his head, messing up his hair even further.

“Come on, guys,” Will complained. “I _just_ got it to look nice again!”

Lou Ellen and Cecil both laughed. “Sorry, Will,” Lou Ellen said, sliding into the booth beside him. Will attempted to fix his hair without the use of a mirror, and Lou Ellen looked across the table at Cecil. “I’m not too, late, right? I didn’t miss it?”

Cecil rolled his eyes and gestured to the bar. “Hazel’s still here,” he pointed out. “Does it look like you missed it?”

Lou Ellen must have kicked Cecil under the table, because he cried out and reached a hand down to rub his sore leg. Will looked at Lou Ellen. “Can you tell me anything about this guy? All I’ve gotten from him is that you think he’s hot.”

Lou Ellen blushed angrily, and suddenly Cecil let out another yelp and yanked his hand from below the table. There was now a red-and-dirt pattern of a shoe tread on the back of it. “Jesus, Lou! You did say it!”

“I meant for Will!” Lou Ellen complained. She looked at Will apologetically. “He’s gay,” she added helpfully.

“If he isn’t, you guys are even worse friends than I thought,” Will said. Cecil made a hurt noise, and Will shot him another glare. “Do I need to go through the list again?”

“No,” Cecil grumbled.

Suddenly, Lou Ellen’s phone went off. She quickly withdrew it from her pocket and slid off the alarm. “Oh, goodie,” she exclaimed. “Five minutes to ten! He’ll be here any second now!”

“It’s kind of creepy that you set an alarm for when he gets here,” Will told her. He was very grateful that Lou Ellen was on the same side of the booth as him, because it was difficult for her to kick him at that angle. She managed, but it didn’t hurt as much as it usually did, even with the probably-permanent bruising already on his shin.

Cecil pounded on the table to get their attention, and Lou Ellen squealed with excitement as she looked over at the bar. Will sighed and followed their eyes. He caught sight of the new bartender, and his breath suddenly caught in his chest. The boy was probably about his age, maybe a little younger. He was _definitely_ hot. He looked nothing like the girl Cecil had said was his sister. Will would have doubted that this was the right guy if his friends weren’t grinning with excitement, and if the boy hadn’t kissed Hazel on the cheek and waved her off with her boyfriend.

The new bartender was kind of small, but looked like he could more than take care of himself. He shot a glare around the room, as if daring any of the customers to try anything. He sent an especially long glare at the cutout of Cupid decorating the wall. Will couldn’t blame him; the only reason he was here in the first place was because it was Valentine’s Day, and he had started to feel his loneliness as more of a crushing weight rather than a small inconvenience.

Lou Ellen elbowed him as she slid out of the booth and joined Cecil on his side. “Will,” she said sweetly, “do you want to go get us some more drinks?”

Will rolled his eyes. If that bartender wasn’t so damn attractive, he would have protested. He could hear Cecil and Lou Ellen laughing as he walked to the bar. He stopped to shoot them a glare. Unfortunately, that just made them laugh harder.

“What can I get you?” the bartender mumbled, not even looking up from where he was drumming his fingers on the bar. It was hard to hear, but Will thought that maybe he could hear an accent. Now that he thought about it, the guy kind of looked Italian. That dark hair of his made his skin look pale, but it was definitely the right color for someone of Italian descent.

“What’s your name?” Will asked before he could stop himself.

The bartender’s head shot up. He was scowling. Will found that adorable. “This is a bar, not an information window. Buy some alcohol or get out,” he growled. Oh, yes, there was definitely an accent. It was faint – Will wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t carefully cataloguing everything about this guy – but it was there.

Will shrugged. “Fair enough.” He pulled some money out of his wallet and dropped on the counter. Then he explained what drinks his friends wanted – they were very specific early in the night; later they would settle for anything that came in a glass.

The bartender snatched the money and set to work preparing the drinks. He grumbled to himself as he did so, but Will couldn’t figure out what he was saying. It occurred to him that he might be speaking Italian.

“I’m Will, by the way,” Will said as the bartender set down the first glass and turned to work on the next.

The bartender glanced back at him. His expression was difficult to read. Then he turned back around and grumbled to himself in Italian some more. As he set down the last drink, Will mumbled a thank-you and prepared to return to his table in defeat. Then, the bartender did something that surprised him. He said, “Nico.”

Will turned back around so fast he nearly spilled the drinks. “What?”

“My name is Nico,” he said. “Nico di Angelo.”

“Will Solace,” Will replied, setting down the drinks and holding out a hand. Nico just looked at it with disdain. Will shrugged and picked up the drinks again. “Nice to meet you, Nico,” he said. “I guess I’ll see you in while.”

Nico nodded slowly. “I guess you will.”

Will smiled and returned to his friends, who demanded details. Will refused to give them any. He did insist on getting all of the drinks for the rest of the night, though. He only got a few words out of Nico each time he went up to the bar, but Will cherished every one of them. He was especially proud of himself for getting the solemn bartender to laugh on his most recent visit. He was only slightly mortified that he had done so by spilling Cecil and Lou Ellen’s drinks all over himself.

“Come on,” Nico managed to gasp between laughs. “I’ll help you dry off.” He allowed Will behind the bar and threw several towels at him. Instead of actually helping him dry off, though, Nico opted to dry the floor.

“I thought you were going to dry _me_ off,” Will complained.

Nico glanced up and him and laughed. “Yes, but I actually get paid for not leaving alcohol all over the floor of the bar.”

“What about all over your customers?”

Nico just shrugged. “I gave you a towel, didn’t I? Technically, you aren’t even supposed to be back here.”

Will suddenly felt special. Nico had let him back here, even if he wasn’t supposed to. That meant a lot. Or maybe Will was just drunk. “Is that so? You do know I’m not willing to let this just be a one-time thing, right?”

Nico stopped drying the floor and looked at him cautiously. “Really?” he asked quietly. “And do I get a say in that?”

Will shrugged. “Sure you do, but I will warn you that I don’t give up easily. In fact, now that I’m here, I might never leave.” To emphasize his point, Will stuck his head under the tap and pulled the lever. He nearly choked to death. That stuff came out fast.

Will looked at Nico, biting his lip in embarrassment. He would completely understand if Nico threw him out of the bar right now and told him to never come back. Instead, Nico laughed again. He came over and dried off Will’s face with a clean towel.

As soon as the cloth was out of the way, Will leaned forward and kissed Nico. Incredibly, Nico kissed him back. When Will pulled away, the other boy was grinning. “I’d ask for your number,” he said. “But I’m pretty sure I’m driving you home tonight.” Nico held up a set of keys, and it took Will a moment to realize that they were his. He patted his pocket in disbelief.

“Hey!” he complained, reaching for his keys. Nico just smirked and held them further away. Will gave up; he probably shouldn’t drive like this, anyways. Instead, Will smiled and kissed Nico once more. When he pulled away this time, he said, “You’d better buy me breakfast in the morning.”


End file.
